University of Georgia Athletics
Wallace’s Fourth Paralympics Is A New Beginning
September 03, 2024 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
At his first Paralympic Games, in London in 2012, Athens native Jarryd Wallace, then just 22 years old, ran the 400 meters T44 and was a member of the 4x100 T42-46 relay team. It was an emphatic fulfillment of an initial goal Wallace set for himself, to live well and pain-free after having his lower right leg amputated less than three years before.
It was also the start of something new and special.
In Rio in 2016, he ran the 100 T44 and was again a member of the 4x100 relay. Five years later, in Tokyo, Wallace won a bronze medal in the 200 T64 and placed sixth in the 100 T64.
(Numbers like T44 or T64 are part of the Paralympic classification system that is used to ensure fair competition between athletes competing in the same event, like the 100-meter run, with different impairments.)
On Wednesday in Paris, Wallace, the former Georgia track signee who was never able to run for the Bulldogs, is competing in his fourth Paralympics and in his fifth different event in his career: the long jump.
"This one's interesting," Wallace said of his fourth Games. "There's an eerie calmness that I've got that's very different from the other Games. After (U.S. Paralympic) Trials for the other Games, it was really like hitting the gas and trying to do more and trying to go faster and trying to get better. This Games, right after the Trials I took 10 days off and went on vacation with the family and just relaxed.
"I've put a lot more emphasis on my state of mind and mental health. ... I've learned throughout my career that the more that I can surrender and let go, the better I perform. I'm trying something a little different this year, I think, and it's definitely been paying off so far."
Now a 34-year-old husband and father, Wallace isn't the same athlete he used to be. He's aging and evolving, and he's taking care of his body like never before. And that is why our interview for this story, done last month, was conducted via Zoom while he was sitting across town in a hyperbaric chamber to aid in his post-workout recovery.
"It's like an hour, hour-and-a-half of just peace and quiet (in 100% oxygen)," Wallace said of being in the hyperbaric chamber, which he tried to do three times a week in the lead-up to Paris.
"There's no magic bullet in training and performance," he added, "but if you have the time ... it can definitely make a difference."
Running the 100 and 200, events in which Wallace earned Paralympic or world championship medals and set world records numerous times, is more the domain of the younger sprinter. (A 19-year-old American, Ezra Frech, won the 100 T63 in Paris.) Now more than a decade removed from having his right leg amputated at the knee due to compartment syndrome, Wallace, the son of legendary former Georgia women's tennis coach Jeff Wallace, has been energized by the switch to the long jump.
"The more exposure I get in this event and the more time I spend with my coach (Dan Pfaff), the more we realize that there's more there. There's more opportunities to get better, and I think that's really exciting," he said.
Wallace said he likes "the steep learning curve" he's faced with starting a new event with a new coach. He also likes that he gets six attempts in the long jump to post a winning or medal-earning mark, compared to just one race in the 100, 200, or 400.
At the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in July, Wallace set a new Americas record with a jump of 7.95 meters (26 feet, 1 inch) — a distance that would have placed ninth in the men's long jump at the Paris Olympics.
"Part of being a great long-jumper is having speed, but learning to jump and fly through the air, and all that entails, is a whole other discipline," Jeff Wallace said. "He's been able to do such a great job in being able to transition to different things (in his athletic career), and he really picked this up quickly.
"In a year's time, he's gotten himself to where he's one of the tops in the world, which is pretty cool."
A former high school track state champion in the 800 and 1,600, Wallace was going to run for the Bulldogs, just as his mother, Sabina, did back in the 1980s. A recurring pain in his right leg, and the subsequent diagnosis of compartment syndrome, eventually put an end to that dream. After numerous surgeries and almost endless rehabilitation, the leg wasn't getting better. A doctor told him that if he wanted to run again, the only way that would happen was if he lost the leg.
In 2011, 17 months after the amputation, Wallace won a gold medal in the 100 T44 at the ParaPan American Games in Mexico. The following year, he made his Paralympic debut in London.
"The one thing I knew he had was some talent," Jeff Wallace said. "More important than that, I knew he had the discipline, the heart, the work ethic, and the desire (to push himself to improve every day), and I think that's really what's taken him so far."
This is Wallace's first Paralympics in the long jump, but will it be his last? The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are in Los Angeles, of course, so could the man who has overcome and achieved so much see himself competing in the Coliseum four years down the road?
"I think that going into this year, I was definitely approaching it as my last Games," he said, "but I think as this year's progressed, it's kind of been, we're going to continue to take it a year at a time."
Whatever happens in Paris and beyond, Wallace, who said this definitely wasn't his last competition, is enjoying this new chapter in his career. The smiles are coming easily these days.
"I guess I've just let go of feeling like I have to do this to prove something to myself or to right a wrong, or whatever it may be," he said. "I really just do this because I love it."
Staff Writer
At his first Paralympic Games, in London in 2012, Athens native Jarryd Wallace, then just 22 years old, ran the 400 meters T44 and was a member of the 4x100 T42-46 relay team. It was an emphatic fulfillment of an initial goal Wallace set for himself, to live well and pain-free after having his lower right leg amputated less than three years before.
It was also the start of something new and special.
In Rio in 2016, he ran the 100 T44 and was again a member of the 4x100 relay. Five years later, in Tokyo, Wallace won a bronze medal in the 200 T64 and placed sixth in the 100 T64.
(Numbers like T44 or T64 are part of the Paralympic classification system that is used to ensure fair competition between athletes competing in the same event, like the 100-meter run, with different impairments.)
On Wednesday in Paris, Wallace, the former Georgia track signee who was never able to run for the Bulldogs, is competing in his fourth Paralympics and in his fifth different event in his career: the long jump.
"This one's interesting," Wallace said of his fourth Games. "There's an eerie calmness that I've got that's very different from the other Games. After (U.S. Paralympic) Trials for the other Games, it was really like hitting the gas and trying to do more and trying to go faster and trying to get better. This Games, right after the Trials I took 10 days off and went on vacation with the family and just relaxed.
"I've put a lot more emphasis on my state of mind and mental health. ... I've learned throughout my career that the more that I can surrender and let go, the better I perform. I'm trying something a little different this year, I think, and it's definitely been paying off so far."
Now a 34-year-old husband and father, Wallace isn't the same athlete he used to be. He's aging and evolving, and he's taking care of his body like never before. And that is why our interview for this story, done last month, was conducted via Zoom while he was sitting across town in a hyperbaric chamber to aid in his post-workout recovery.
"It's like an hour, hour-and-a-half of just peace and quiet (in 100% oxygen)," Wallace said of being in the hyperbaric chamber, which he tried to do three times a week in the lead-up to Paris.
"There's no magic bullet in training and performance," he added, "but if you have the time ... it can definitely make a difference."
Running the 100 and 200, events in which Wallace earned Paralympic or world championship medals and set world records numerous times, is more the domain of the younger sprinter. (A 19-year-old American, Ezra Frech, won the 100 T63 in Paris.) Now more than a decade removed from having his right leg amputated at the knee due to compartment syndrome, Wallace, the son of legendary former Georgia women's tennis coach Jeff Wallace, has been energized by the switch to the long jump.
"The more exposure I get in this event and the more time I spend with my coach (Dan Pfaff), the more we realize that there's more there. There's more opportunities to get better, and I think that's really exciting," he said.
Wallace said he likes "the steep learning curve" he's faced with starting a new event with a new coach. He also likes that he gets six attempts in the long jump to post a winning or medal-earning mark, compared to just one race in the 100, 200, or 400.
At the U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in July, Wallace set a new Americas record with a jump of 7.95 meters (26 feet, 1 inch) — a distance that would have placed ninth in the men's long jump at the Paris Olympics.
"Part of being a great long-jumper is having speed, but learning to jump and fly through the air, and all that entails, is a whole other discipline," Jeff Wallace said. "He's been able to do such a great job in being able to transition to different things (in his athletic career), and he really picked this up quickly.
"In a year's time, he's gotten himself to where he's one of the tops in the world, which is pretty cool."
A former high school track state champion in the 800 and 1,600, Wallace was going to run for the Bulldogs, just as his mother, Sabina, did back in the 1980s. A recurring pain in his right leg, and the subsequent diagnosis of compartment syndrome, eventually put an end to that dream. After numerous surgeries and almost endless rehabilitation, the leg wasn't getting better. A doctor told him that if he wanted to run again, the only way that would happen was if he lost the leg.
In 2011, 17 months after the amputation, Wallace won a gold medal in the 100 T44 at the ParaPan American Games in Mexico. The following year, he made his Paralympic debut in London.
"The one thing I knew he had was some talent," Jeff Wallace said. "More important than that, I knew he had the discipline, the heart, the work ethic, and the desire (to push himself to improve every day), and I think that's really what's taken him so far."
This is Wallace's first Paralympics in the long jump, but will it be his last? The 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are in Los Angeles, of course, so could the man who has overcome and achieved so much see himself competing in the Coliseum four years down the road?
"I think that going into this year, I was definitely approaching it as my last Games," he said, "but I think as this year's progressed, it's kind of been, we're going to continue to take it a year at a time."
Whatever happens in Paris and beyond, Wallace, who said this definitely wasn't his last competition, is enjoying this new chapter in his career. The smiles are coming easily these days.
"I guess I've just let go of feeling like I have to do this to prove something to myself or to right a wrong, or whatever it may be," he said. "I really just do this because I love it."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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